Life as we know it
by mysecretsunleashed
Summary: Ebony Woodgrove was an ordinary girl until she got that letter, the letter that changed her life, but would she change life as we know it. Now Ebony is off to Hogwarts where she will learn new things and make new friends. But will she be able to fix what has been broken for far too long?
1. Hogwarts Letter

**HOGWARTS LETTER**

Today's my birthday I thought to myself, I'm eleven now!

"Ebony wake up!" my mom called from downstairs. My eyes slowly opened as I tried to adjust to the light. I saw something out of the corner of my eye, my eyes shot open and I bolted into a sitting position. Staring back at me were two large amber eyes. I screamed and backed against the wall. I heard footsteps running up the stairs and a moment later mom burst through the door stumbling and almost falling in her haste. "What is it Ebony, what's going on?" mom asked looking flustered. "T-there's a-an owl I-in my room," I stuttered, pointing out the obvious. "Oh come on Ebony he looks harmless," mom said and I could tell she was trying not to laugh. "You wouldn't be saying that if you woke up with that…that thing on your bed," I accused starting to get angry. My mom's eyes flickered over to the owl "oh look it has a letter," she said, obviously trying to distract me from my anger. I glanced at the owl and sure enough there was a letter tied to its leg.

I walked over to the owl, after getting over the shock of waking up to an owl in my room I could see that the owl was very handsome, he was a sleek barn owl with the most startling amber eyes. As soon as I took the scroll of the owl's leg he flew out the window. I stared out the window as the owl flew off; I watched it until it disappeared lost in my own thoughts. Since when did owls deliver letters…?

"Ebony," my mom interrupted my thought and I jumped slightly, "are you going to open your letter?" I'd completely forgotten about my letter, I looked down at it. The envelope was made of thick parchment and my address was written on it in green ink "Ebony Woodgrove, First bedroom at the top of the stairs, Seaview cottage." how did they know which bedroom I slept in I thought, but the question was quickly pushed aside by my curiosity. I flipped the letter over and there was a red seal holding the envelope together. I peeled off the sea slowly, I could feel my excitement rising. I opened the letter and started to read

_Dear Miss Woodgrove_,

_We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of al the necessary book and equipment._

_Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

_Yours Sincerely,_

**Minerva McGonagall**

**Headmistress **

I couldn't believe it, I shook my head and blinked my eyes repeatedly, I read over it once, twice, three times, but still it was the same. I, Ebony Woodgrove , was a witch.


	2. Diagon alley

**DIAGON ALLEY**

I had read over my list of equipment and books I needed and some of the things on it were actually laughable. Apparently witches and wizards used cauldrons! I could just imagine green skinned witches with warts sitting over a cauldron stirring it slowly while cackling madly. Next they were gonna tell me they flew on broomsticks. They already had the pointy hats and all, I smirked to myself.

The next we woke up early and set off to London to get all my school stuff. I hopped out of the taxi excitedly, thanking the man. My mom paid the taxi driver before I grabbed her hand and pulled her out after me, skipping down the street happily. I stopped and pulled out the sheet of paper that Professor Longbottom, at least I think that was his name, I know it's a weird name right? It said we had to go to the Leaky Cauldron, which was between number 17 and number 18. I walked down the street to number 17 and right next to it was an old pub with a sign above it claiming it to be the Leaky Cauldron.

"Ebony," my mom interrupted my thoughts "the Creaky Cauldron isn't there." I laughed "mom it's the Leaky Cauldron and its right there," I said pointing to it. I watched as my mom looked at it but her eyes skipped right over it and onto the next shop. I looked around confusedly and noticed that everyone else's eyes just skipped right over the pub. I was thoroughly confused, I looked down at the note from Professor Longbottom and noticed small writhing at the bottom that I hadn't before. It said "p.s. muggles, non-wizarding folk-can't see the Leaky Cauldron unless you're holding their hand." Well that sorted that, I grabbed my moms and she gasped audibly as I pulled her forward. "W-where did that c-come fr-from?" she spluttered. "It's always there but you just can't see it," I explained to her as I pulled her forward and through the crowd in the pub. Everyone in the pub was wearing robes like the ones Professor Longbottom had been wearing when he came to visit.

We finally emerged into the little back area of the pub. It was a small square, with brick walls and there were bins lining one side. Professor Longbottom had told me to tap the brick that was three up and two across. I did this and the bricks began to recede to form an archway. My jaw dropped and I stood there gaping in awe at the scene laid out before me. The street was packed full of people wearing robes, and all the shops along the side of the street were selling things that I was unfamiliar with. "Wow," I heard my mom whisper to herself beside me and I couldn't have put it better myself. I started heading down the street my mom following me. There was a sign telling me that this street was called Diagon Alley. As we walked down the street I peered curiously into the shops around me, there was a shop that sold owls, and another one had a barrel outside of it selling "3 scoops of newt eyes for a galleon." Newt eyes? That's gross! And what's a galleon. There were so many questions running through my head at an alarmingly fast pace that it was making me dizzy.

We finally reached the bank, "Grinngotts Wizarding Bank," it was a huge stone building. We walked through the doors and there were rows of desk with small little creatures perched on top of high chairs. We approached one of the desks where an old wizened creatue? sat. "Name?" he asked without looking up from the parchment he was scribbling away furiously on. "Eh…Ebony Woodgrove?" I said but it came out as more of a question than an answer. "Vault number?" he asked. "Um.. I don't have a vault sir," I replied wondering what I was supposed to do. "Muggleborn?" he asked and I was for Professor Longbottom's explanation earlier, I nodded. "Alright, I'm Ragnook, the goblin, would you like to exchange money or would you like to open a vault?" he asked finally looking up from his paper.

Ten minutes later I emerged from the building feeling queasy. We had exchanged money and then my mom had opened a vault for me. We had to down to the vault in a little cart that rocked from side to side and jumped up and down t odd intervals, hence the sickness. "Come on," my mom said "we've got lots to buy."

First we went to get all the equipment I needed, cauldron, brass scales and telescope. Then I had to get my robes so we went to a shop called "Madam Malkin's robes for every occasion." She measured me for my robes and soon we were on to the next shop. I got my quills, ink, parchment and potion ingredients. Next we went to the bookshop, I'm not a bookworm, but I do like to snuggle up with a good book by the fire every now and again and I'm not gonna lie this shop really interested me. The shop was crammed full of books about things I had never heard of, I would've loved to stay there all day, but we were running out of time and we still had to get my pet and wand. I quickly read through my list and went to find all my spell book I was just trying to get my last book. it was on the top shelf and me being only 5"2 couldn't reach it. I stretched up to my full extent on my tiptoes and tried to grab it but I could only stroke the edges of the book. I huffed and fell backwards onto my heels. Ugh I hated being small! Just then a tall boy with unruly dark auburn coloured hair that stuck out in all directions and hazel eyes loped over to me gracefully, leaned over me and plucked the book off the shelf. "Here you go," he said, handing me the book. "Thanks," I said smiling up at him, he looked to be about a year older than me and was really good looking. "No problem shortie," he smirked as I blushed furiously and scowled at him. "See you around, " he said still smirking as he turned around and walked out of the shop.

I paid for my books and we left the shop to head for "Ollivanders" the wand shop, I was so excited. As we headed down the street towards the shop we passed a shop called "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes." "Mom," I begged "can we please go into that shop?" The shop was full of children running around excitedly and it was selling an array of prank and joke products. "Alright," she conceded "I'll meet you in Ollivanders in 20 minutes, I want to go to that beauty shop I saw down the road." "Okay," I agreed quickly, smiling "see you in 20."

I quickly ran into the shop and began to look at all the products. I saw a boy with dark unruly hair that was just like the boy in the bookshop's, they had to be related, he also had mesmerising green eyes and glasses and looked my age. I watched as he pulled a product off of a shelf and had to stifle my laughter when it exploded, sending confetti over the shocked looking boy.

15 minutes later I was paying for my items when a dark skinned boy with dark red hair came up to look at what I was carrying, I had a pimple vanisher, some skiving snack boxes, a few dung bombs and a couple of extendable ears. "I see you're a prankster, a girl after my own heart," he said flirtatiously winking at me. I quickly paid for my things and went to meet my mom.

The wand shop was a small dusty looking shop that had a sort of rundown look about it. we entered the shop and it was tiny, there was no furniture except for a spindly chair in the middle and there were boxes piled up to the ceiling. "Ag, hello," said a voice coming from the shadows, I jumped. "You'll be looking for a wand, yes?" asked an old wizened wizard as he emerged from behind a stack of wands. "Um yes sir," I replied uncertainly, he had a sort of creepy air that freaked me out. "I'm Ollivander," he said before he retreated back behind a shelf. A measuring tape came forward and started measuring me. It measure Around my head, the length of my toes, the distance between my toes and many other place that I couldn't figure out how they would help me pick a wand..

Finally Ollivander remerged from behind the stack with some wands. He handed me one "here try this," he told me handing me a wand. I took and felt extremely silly waving a stick around the air but I did it anyway. The wand let off dangerous sparks and he snatched it away quickly. "No, no that won't work he muttered to himself," and handed me another wand telling me it was "beech tree, 8 inches, immobile with unicorn hair." I took it in my hand, swirled it around and there was a mini explosion at the end of my wand. Again Ollivander snatched the wand from me before handing me another one to try. It seemed like I had tried all the wands in the shop and none of them had worked, the pile of useless wands beside was growing bigger and bigger. Ollivander was muttering to himself something that sounded like "the wand chooses the wizard" and "I wonder, I wonder."

"Dear," he finally said turning to me "will you please put out your wand hand." I willingly obliged, anything that would get me out of here faster, halfway through I had begun to wonder if I wasn't actually a witch, what if I couldn't do magic? my mom had fallen asleep in the chair and was snoring soundly. I stuck my hand out as he told me to. "Now," he said "I would like you to imagine your wand flying into your hand." I tried to imagine a wand floating out from the stack of wands and into my hand, but that didn't happen, instead the wand came from behind me, in the window display. I had noticed it earlier when we were coming in, there was one wand lying on a cushion in the display, and I remembered thinking it was beautiful. Unlike most wands it was not brown and dull, the wood had a faint rosy-pink colour to it with dark green pieces of wood wrapping around it like vines. The wand flew into my and I Immediately felt warmth spreading through my body. A golden arc shot from the end of the wand forming a rainbow before bursting and gold sparkles floated down all around me.

I started smiling immediately and looked over to Ollivander and my mom, who had woken up and was staring at me in awe. "Interesting," Ollivander said "that wand is made from a rose bush, I don't often make wands out of bushes, they tend to do very unsteady magic. This is the only wand I ever made from a bush because there was so much magic in that bush, I mixed it with cedar to make it more reliable," he explained "Cedar infused with rose bush, 10 ¼ inches, pliable with dragon heartstring and phoenix feather. very powerful wand for a very powerful wizard," he said before retreating into the back of the shop.

I left feeling very confused. But I soon pushed all my questions aside as we headed towards Eyelops Owl Emporium. I walked in the door and was overwhelmed by the amount of owls in the shop. "Hi welcome to Eyelops Owl Emporium," the man at the counter said, he had fiery red hair and was sturdily built " how can I help you?" he asked. "I'm looking for an owl," I told him. "Sure thing darling, look around and come back to me if you need anything," he said " oh and by the way I'm Charlie." "Thanks, I'm Ebony," I said smiling.

I walked through the shop looking at all the owls. I was just about to ask my mom to help me choose when I spotted an owl perched on a shelf to my right. His feathers were a bright, fiery orange, unlike any of the owls I had seen so far, he had one blue eye and one green eye and his head was turned to the side while he stared at me. He had a kind of cheeky, mischievous look about him and I liked him immediately. I picked him up and put him on my shoulder. I walked back over to where my mom and Charlie were talking "I want this one," I told them. "Oh, he's a cheeky little bugger," Charlie told me "that'll be 17 sickles. I handed over the money and left the shop.

by the time we got home I was exhausted and promptly fell asleep.


	3. Hogwarts Express

****A/N:Hwy guys i know there isn't much going on at the moment but i just have to set the scene first. Sorry. I really hope ye all like my story-follow, favorite, review please, especially reviews if you have any ideas for the story I'd like to know them. I'm updating once a week at this moment but if I can I will update more frequently.  
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**HOGWARTS EXPRESS**

The rest of the summer passed uneventfully and soon it was September 1st. I had packed my trunk last night and double checked it about three times I was so excited. I knew this year was going to be packed full of adventures.

M alarm clock went off at 8; I quickly turned it off and fell back asleep immediately. I was NOT a morning person. Half an hour later and I was still sprawled out on my bed oblivious to the rest of the world. "Ebony if you don't get up now you're going to be late!" I heard my mom calling to me from downstairs. I sighed as I rolled over. "Crap!" I exclaimed as I fell out of my bed. I got up, rubbing my backside from where I had landed on it. Well I'm definitely up now, I thought to myself. I quickly brushed through my hair, pulled on a pair of denim jeans and a jumper and ran down the stairs. I skidded into the kitchen grabbing a bowl of cereal and wolfing it down. It was already twenty past nine and we still had to drive to King's Cross Station.

I ran out to the car with my trunk hopping on the gravel in my bare feet. Shoes! I knew I forgot something. I flung my trunk into the boot and pegged it back into the house and up the stairs. I grabbed my converse from the bottom of my bed. I ran down the stairs while trying to pull on my shoes. I tripped and ended up sprawled at the bottom of the stairs. "Ouch!" I exclaimed as I hopped up and begged it out the door. "Go, go, go!" I shouted to my mom as I yanked the door open and hopped into the car.

Half an hour later we arrived at the train station. I jumped out of the car, flung open the boot and grabbed my trunk and owl. I quickly found a cart and put them on before turning and bombing through the crowd, pushing my cart as a bumper and shouting at people to move. People gave me weird looks, but that could've been because of my owl, Pipsqueak.

I found the barrier between platform 9 and 10 and quickly hugged my mom goodbye, she couldn't come through because she was a muggle. "I'll see you at Christmas," I said smiling at her, before turning and heading towards the barrier. Here goes nothing, I thought to myself as I started to run towards the barrier. "Write lot's of letter sweetie," I heard my mom shout after me. "I will," I shouted back before I disappeared through the barrier.

I was momentarily frozen to the spot as I looked around the platform. It was bustling with kids of all ages; some were leaning out the windows of the train waving goodbye. Apart from Diagon Alley, this was the most wizards I'd ever seen. The noise was deafening with owls hooting loudly and children shouting to be heard over the din.

I heard a whistling sound. I looked up and saw steam pouring from the train. I quickly started heading in that direction, pushing my way through the throngs of people. I hopped onto the train and started making my way down the hallway, peeking through the windows of the carriages, trying to find an empty one. I was halfway down the train before I found one that only had one small boy sitting in it. He looked like he was my age and he had pale skin and startling blond hair. He was sitting quietly in the corner reading a book

"Mind if I sit here?" I asked him, indicating one of the seats. "Sure," he replied offering me a tiny smile. "I'm Ebony Woodgrove," I said sticking my hand out for him to shake. "Scorpious Malfoy," he said, sounding slightly surprised that I was talking to him. "Nice to meet you," I said, offering him a bright grin. Just then we were interrupted as the compartment door opened and two heads popped in. they looked our age as well. One was a girl with long red hair that cascaded in pretty curl down her back and the other was the boy I had seen in the joke shop at Diagon Alley. "Can we sit with ye?" the girl asked "all the other carriages are full." "Sure," I replied, instantly warming to her bubbly personality. "Thanks," she said happily taking the seat next to me while the boy sat next to Scorpious. "I'm Rose Weasley and this is my cousin Albus Potter," she said smiling happily. "I can introduce myself, and how many times do I have to tell you never to call me Albus?" he asked Rose jokingly before turning to me and Scorpious and saying "I love my parents and all but seriously they could've picked a better name, please call me Al." "Sure thing," I said smiling slightly at Al and Rose's charade "I'm Ebony Woodgrove and this is Scorpious Malfoy."

An hour later a plump witch came along pushing a cart full of sweets. I hopped up excitedly being unable to deny my sweet tooth anything. When I got to the cart I realised that I didn't know what any of these sweets were. "Uh, what's good?" I asked the others. Rose jumped in, "the chocolate frogs and pumpkin pastries are always good," she told me smiling to herself slightly. It was a smile I knew well as I always wore it when thinking of my favourite sweets.

I sat down on the seat with my arms full of sweets and my pockets feeling considerably lighter. Just as I was about to dig in to a pumpkin pastry the compartment door slid open and two heads popped in. "Oh hey Al, hey Rose, mind if we sit here?" asked the boy that I recognized from the bookshop in Diagon Alley. "Sure," Al replied smiling. The two boys stepped into the carriage, I recognized the other boy from the joke shop. I soon realized that they weren't the only people entering the compartment. They were followed by a boy and two girls. One of the girls was dark-skinned and had dark red hair that fell in neat ringlets to her shoulders, she looked uncannily like Fred that they had to be twins. The other girl had a much lighter complexion; she was extremely pretty with strawberry blonde hair that fell straight down her back. The boy had sandy coloured hair and he had a sort of laidback look about him.

"Oh yeah, introductions," Rose said finally remembering that we didn't know each other. "This is James, Al's brother," she said pointing towards the boy from the bookshop. He smirked at me slightly, "hey Shortie," he grinned. Ugh I wasn't THAT short, was I? "That one is Fred," Rose told me indicating the boy I had met in the joke shop. He winked at me flirtatiously and smirked when I blushed. "And that's Roxanne, his twin." Roxanne beamed at me and Scorpious. "Next is Dominique, she'll be sharing a room with us." Dominique smiled at me as she sat down next to Rose. "And lastly that's Tyler," she said indicating the blonde haired boy "he's the only one who's not related, but he's basically part of the family anyway." She then turned to the rest of the crowd "this is Ebony Woodgrove and this…..this is Scorpious Malfoy." Everyone tensed up at the mention of Scorpious' name. "Err…hi," I said timidly and this thankfully seemed to break the tension and everyone burst into chatter at once.

Half an hour later and I was starting to get uncomfortable from the way I was sitting. There were way too many of us to fit in the carriage, Scorpious, Al, Tyler, Fred and Dominique were on one seat with Dominique half sitting on Fred and Tyler. On the other seat were me, Rose, James and Roxanne. I was squished up against the window uncomfortably and my ass was starting to go numb so I was extremely grateful when there was an announcement telling us that we would be arriving soon. "Well we should get changed into our robes," Tyler said hoping up. Just as they were about to leave the compartment James turned back to us and said with an evil smirk on his "don't worry the sorting isn't too painful."

As soon as the compartment door closed I started to panic. "Sorting, what sorting, what do we have to do?" I asked, breathing deeply to try and calm myself down. "It's alright," Al said looking down at me "you only have to put on a hat, my dad told me." "Oh, okay," I said, starting to feel like a fool for getting panicked over nothing, stupid James Potter.

Luckily I didn't have long to feel embarrassed because the train was pulling into the station. This was it I thought excitedly to myself. I was finally here. I was at Hogwarts and with my newfound friends at my side I felt unstoppable.


	4. The Sorting Ceremony

**A/N: Hey guys two chapters in one day, do you love me or what? Let me know what ye all think. Hope you liked this chapter.**

**THE SORTING CEREMONY**

I followed the others out onto the platform. "Firs' years over here," I heard a large voice booming through the still night. I looked over and saw a huge man, "is he a giant," I whispered to Scorpious but before he could answer Rose and Al yelled "Hagrid!" and ran over to the large man.

"Hey you two, how've ye bin?" he asked as they approached him, me and Scorpious following behind unsurely. They all started chattering away. Eventually Hagrid spotted me and Scorpious hovering at the edge of the group looking uncomfortable. "Made new friends, eh?" he asked smiling, his beetle black eyes shining merrily "well anyway we best be getting to the boats now.

We followed him down to the edge a black lake where there were numerous boats lined up at the edge. "Four to a boat. no more or ye'll sink dem!" I heard Hagrid yell. The four of us quickly hopped into a boat and off we went. "So what housse do you want to be in?" Rose asked us, "I want to be in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw." "I definitely want to be in Gryffindor," Al told us happily. "What are the houses?" I asked. "oh there's Gryffindor, the brave, Hufflepuff, the kind, loyal and hard-working, Ravenclaw, the intelligent and Slytherin, the cunning and ambitious. "Well I'm not really sure," I said uncertainly, "I guess we'll find out. "What about you Scorpious?" Rose asked turning to him. All of a sudden he looked very flustered "ehhh…I'm not really sure, Slytherin is where all my family's been, so I mean….yeah," he finished ff somewhat lamely. "It doesn't matter where you end up, we'll sstill be friends with you," Albus told him, and a huge smile overtook Scorpious' face.

By now we were halfway across the lake. "Ye'll be getting' ye're firs' view of Hogwarts up on the right now," Hagrid told the group of first years. As we rounded the corner I couldn't help but gasp as I looked up at the castle in awe. There were huge towers shooting up into the ever darkening sky and there was an air of mystery, adventure and magic surrounding this castle. As I was staring up at the castle in awe I felt a nudge on my back as I went sprawling over the edge of the boat. The water was freezing and I inhaled sharply as I was hit with the coolness of the water. I surfaced spluttering for air and whirled around to see Rose, Scorpious and Al bent double with laughter. Well that sorted it, I had to get revenge. I swam over to the boat and held onto the edges as if to pull myself up but halfway through I changed directions and pushed down with all my might. The boat toppled over and al, Rose and Scorpious came toppling out.

I laughed manically at the expressions of shock on their faces. The other first years had noticed the big splash we had made and were peering at us curiously. "C'mon, aren't ye gonna come for a swim," I called out with a smirk on my face, challenging them. Dom was the first one to stand up and she did a cannonball into the lake causing a huge splash. she was quickly followed by a girl with brown hair who had been sitting in thee boat with her.

Soon all the first years were in the water splashing around and dunking each other. I saw Rose drifting peacefully on her back staring up at the stars and I silently glided through the water towards her. As soon as I was close enough I pounced on her and pushed her under the water. When she resurfaced she squealed loudly and threatened me, but I had already swam off as fast as I could.

"Alri' firs' years back in ye're boats or we'll never get there," came Hagrid's booming voice. I made my way back to the boat and hoisted myself in with the help of the others. I looked up and made eye contact with them and we all burst out laughing.

When we got to the castle we were all starting to get cold but we were excited from our swim and the sorting ceremony. We made our way into the castle and Hagrid led us to a small room that looked like an anti-chamber. A middle-aged professor with long straight black hair greeted us "I'm Professor Chang-Davies and I am the Deputy Headmistress," she said smiling at us.

She got us to line up alphabetically, so I was next to Dominique, then we followed her through the doors. We entered a large room with four tables in the middle and one at the top. The table at the top was filled with professors and all the other tables were crammed with students. Each table had different colours, theone on the far side was red and gold, then there was blue and silver, followed by yellow and black and lastly the table on this side of the hall was green and silver. I looked up and gasped in surprise instead of a ceiling it looked as though we were outside. the ceiling was covered in stars and there were candles floating in mid-air. "The ceiling is enchanted to look like the outside, my parents told me," Dominique whispered to me. If that was true then I would really like to see it when it was snowing.

As soon as we had entered the hall all the other students had starting laughing at the lot of us dripping wet. The woman seated in the middle of the top table did not look amused. She had salt-and-pepper hair tied back into a neat bun and I guessed that she was the Headmistress.

I looked around and saw an old tattered hat sitting on a three-legged stool. As I watched it a rip appeared at the brim and it started to sing

_I may be old and tattered_

_ I may be worn and battered_

_ But put me on and you will see_

_ That I know where you should be_

_ Whether you be smart or brave_

_ I'll know what you do crave_

_ I'll know whether you should be running_

_Towards loyalty or cunning_

_ But let me tell you this_

_ I fear of this terrible crisis_

_ My job is to separate you _

_ But you need to join together too_

_ No matter what house you're in_

_ The only way you'll ever win_

_ Is to forget the past_

_ And come together at last_

The hat finished it's song and was met with thunderous applause as it bowed to all four tables. Professor Chang-Davies took out a scroll and began to read the names. "Adams, Luke!" was called out and he was sorted into Ravenclaw. It went on like this as one by one the group got smaller. I noticed that some people took a lot longer to get sorted than others. "Woodgrove, Ebony!" I heard my name being called out and I walked up and sat on the stool. Professor Chang-Davies placed the hat on my head. _**Hmm, so you're the one that started the whole lake episode,**_ I jumped as I heard a voice in my head. How did this work? I tried to slow down my thoughts,_ well no technically Al pushed me in.__**I'm not stupid you know you don't have to slow down your thoughts for me, **_the hat said sounding annoyed, _**and you were the one who dared everyone else to jump in were you not?**__ Well, yeah I spose I was, _I thought_, how do you work anyway, I mean I know it must be some sort of magic but how does it work? __**Inquisitive mind eh? Well the magic in me is far superior to anything you'd ever be able to understand **_the hat said in an arrogantly superior voice. He, was it a he? Was really starting to get on my nerves. _Sure it is,_ I drawled, slowing down my thoughts just to annoy the hat, _you aren't just saying that to make yourself feel better, I mean you don't even have any legs you have to be placed on our heads, what do you do for the rest of the year anyway? _By now I was just trying to rile the hat up but it was fun._** I am an entity far superior to be refined to just one gender, **_the hat crowed,_** I am EXTREMELY important, the school couldn't be run without me. **__I'm fairly sure they could replace you with a simple test, it would be quicker to,_ I said smirking. _**As if I could be replaced with a test, **_the hat shrieked.

Now that I was having fun getting the hat angry I started searching for things I knew would annoy him. _Does the hat have nits? _I wondered to myself. "NO, I DO NOT HAVE NITS!" the hat shrieked out loud and I heard some of the people in the hall snicker._ Hah, I win_, I thought triumphantly to the hat.

_**Let's just get this over with, the sooner I get off your head the better. **_And I couldn't help but agree with the hat on that, _Agreed.__** You're cunning but not ambitious enough, that rules out Slytherin, **_the hat thought in my head, _**you're loyal but definitely too lazy for Hufflepuff, you'd do well in either Ravenclaw or Gryffindo. You're also extremely stubborn. So you can only be in…. wait, will you do me a favour?**__ Depends on what the favour is,_I thought back, unwilling to agree outright_**. Will you try to join the houses together as much as you can, I fear their separation,**_ there was a note of desperation that had me agreeing and next thing I knew the hat was calling out "Gryffindor!" and the left side of the hall erupted into cheering.

I made my way down to the table and sat down next to Al. "What took you so long?" Al asked me "you had the hat on for almost ten minutes!" "Umm….I kind of had an argument with the hat," I said grinning sheepishly. At this Al burst out laughing, attracting a few curious glances from the other students. "Only you could manage that," he spluttered through his laughter. We were joined by Dominique and Rose and soon after, the feast started.

"So why are ye all soaked?" James asked form his place across the table "went for a swim?" he smirked. "Err…kind of," Al said a bit sheepishly. "Kind of?" Roxanne asked curiously. "Al pushed me into the lake so I toppled the boat over to get them back," I explained. "And then Ebony dared everyone else to jump in," Al said smiling mischievously. Everyone erupted into fits of laughter at that and Fred yelled "wicked!" as he slapped me on the back. I grinned and tucked into my food.

The food was delicious. I had never tasted anything as good as it before. The amount of food lain out on the table was causing it to groan slightly under the weight and my mouth watered just looking at. All too soon we were done eating and we made our way up to the common room. I walked in a half-asleep haze happily stuffed from all the food I had consumed. The prefects led us to our bedrooms and I vaguely remember getting changed before crawling into bed exhaustedly and falling asleep instantly.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys sorry for the delay i should of had this up during the weeken but i was SO busy and I didn't have time to finish it, sorry! Anyway so this is my first story so I'm not expecting it to be great or anything but please if you read it give me reviews, constructive criticism greatly appreciated. Thanks! And I'm really sorry if I don't update this story as much from now on but I'm going to be really busy and also when I started this story I was going through a next gen phase and then last week I decided to read a James/Lily story and now I'm obsessed with them so I'm planning on starting one of those stories. As you have probably guessed I get distracted easily, sorry again! and yeah I know this was a really long authors note. Oh wait I never put a disclaimer up did I, well yeah I don't own all the characters or the world and whatnot.**

**NEW BEGGINNINGS**

I rolled over in my bed yawning and stretching. I blearily opened my eyes and glanced at my alarm clock. I sat bolt upright, it was already 8 o'clock! I glanced around at the rest of my roommates. Beside me Rose was sitting up in her bed stretching, but she seemed oblivious to the time as she looked to be in no hurry. Next to her Dominique was sprawled out on her bead conked out. Annabeth Finnigan and Alice Longbottom were both sleeping soundly in their beds snoring softly. Eva Stewart, one of the other muggleborns had somehow managed to end up lying at the end of her bed and Lisa Beth, the other Muggleborn, had seemingly fallen off her bed during the night seeing as she lay spread-eagled on the floor.

"Guys quick! Everyone up!" I shouted as I ran into the bathroom "we're gonna be late!" Rose was the first to follow me but she was soon followed by the others. I caught sight of myself in the mirror, my usual straight long brown hair was tangled and messy and my piercing blue eyes were groggy from sleep. I grabbed a hairbrush, raked it through my hair, and splashed water on my face to wake myself up. I sprinted back into the room and leaped over my bed. I grabbed my uniform and quickly changed.

Five minutes later the seven of us were sprinting through the corridors at full pelt, earning some weird looks from the people meandering through the corridors. "Does anyone actually know how to get to the Great Hall?" I heard Eva ask. Crap!

I stopped and started to look around, but I was completely lost. I looked over at the other girls and suddenly we all burst out laughing. After we had quietened down Beth asked how we were supposed to find our way to the Great Hall. I was just about to tell her I had no clue when Rose and Dominique both yelled "Vic!" I looked up and saw a girl who looked kind of like Dominique but her hair was startlingly blonde and she was older. "Let me guess you're lost?" she asked us with a knowing smile and we all nodded a bit sheepishly.

We arrived at the Great Hall ten minutes later and I began to wonder how we had managed to get that lost. "Classes start soon so if you want something to eat get it now," Vic told us. "Thanks sis," Dominique called out before we all hurried over to the Gryffindor table. As soon as we had sat down McGonagall came rushing over to us with our timetables. I quickly glanced over my timetable, I had Double Charms first.

"Can you pass me the butter Dominique?" I asked grabbing some toast. "Please don't call me Dominique," she told me shuddering as she passed the butter over "it's Dom." "Alright," I said with a smile. "Oh look Al and the rest are getting up now; we should probably head to Charms."

When we arrived at the Charms classroom we were still early so we went over and talked to the rest of the class. I found out that the first year boy Gryffindors were Al, Logan, Aaron, Patrick and the Creevy twins, John and Peter. We chatted until Professor Flitwick arrived and we were able to go into the classroom. Professor Flitwick was tiny, that was the only word I could possibly use to describe him. He was half my size, and mind you that wasn't much and he had grey hair and numerous wrinkles.

When we entered the classroom we all took seats. We shared this class with the Ravenclaws, and they somehow all ended up sitting at the front, with us at the back. Flitwick told us that we were doing a practical class and I was extremely excited, I'd finally get to use magic!

Ten minutes later and I was still trying to get my wand tip to light. "Lumos," I muttered once again and I was surprised when the tip of my wand erupted in light. Everyone looked around and gasped at the bright light shooting from my wand. Other people had managed to get their wands to light before mine did but theirs weren't half as bright as mine. "Well done Miss Woodgrove, excellent work, 5 points to Gryffindor," Flitwick announced. I felt all eyes on me and I blushed profusely, I hadn't really meant for it to be that bright, it had just sort of happened. I shrunk down into my seat and didn't try the spell again and I was thankful when the bell rang. I packed up my bag and left the classroom, next to Annabeth.

As I walked out of the class I looked down at my timetable, we had double Potions. _Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn, and cauldron bubble _I though to myself, smiling slightly. This was gonna be fun. "C'mon Anna," I said grabbing her hand and starting to pull her down the hall excitedly. I had lost track of the amount of stairs we had run down before Anna finally called out "Ebony, stop! We are completely lost!" I stopped running and looked around, "darn it, not again," I half yelled from exasperation. Some of the students in the hallway turned around and stared at me openly. I blushed fiercely and starting trailing after Anna, who was trying to figure out which way to go.

Just as I was giving up hope of ever finding the classroom I spotted a shock of messy hair that I instantly recognised. "James!" I shouted, running to catch up with him. He turned around with a look of bemusement on his face and I almost burst out laughing but I stopped myself. "Aren't you supposed to be in class?" he asked smirking slightly. Anna sighed and rolled her eyes, "yes we are but umm…we kind of got lost," she finished a bit sheepishly. James broke out into a grin and he guffawed loudly. When he had finally managed to compose himself he spoke again "what class do you have?" "Potions," I replied smirking at the thought. James spluttered, barley containing his amusement at our predicament "how d-did you man-nage to get all the way up here." Anna and I both glared at him which was enough to shut him up. "Okay Ted, I guess I'll see you later," he said to the older boy with blue hair, who just nodded in reply.

"Well, ladies first," he smirked motioning for us to take the lead in a gentlemanly gesture. I smiled gratefully at him, but just as I was about to step forward he spoke again "oh actually I forgot if ye take the lead we'll just get lost again." He sniggered as he walked past us. I growled but had to follow him and Anna.

"So….how did you actually manage to get all the way over here?" James asked, trying but failing to keep the amusement out of his voice. "Oh this mess is all Ebony's fault," Anna said mock-accusingly "she seems to have a knack for getting lost. For example earlier on the way to breakf-" I cut her off with a sharp elbow to the side and a hiss of "traitor." "Ow!" she yelped, even though I couldn't have hit her that hard. I looked over at James to see him chortling quietly to himself. When I caught his eye he burst into peals of laughter, I scowled darkly at him but there was no real menace in it. We heard the sound of a turning doorknob and looked up in alarm; I had completely forgotten there were classrooms on either side of the corridor. Shoot!

Just as the door was about to open James grabbed both or hands and pulled us behind a tapestry that I hadn't noticed before. We were all squished there holding our breath and listening as hard as we could. I heard a door swing open further down the corridor and the clicking of heels against the floors. The sound was coming closer to us and just when I thought we had been caught the person swiftly turned around and marched back into the classroom. We all breathed a sigh of relief simultaneously. "C'mon, let's get ye to class," James eventually said when we were sure the threat had passed. I followed him without complaint and we were soon standing outside a door in the dungeons.

"This is it, good luck, you'll need it," James said. "Thanks," I whispered before turning around and steeling myself. I looked over at Anna and noticed she looked as worried as I felt. I reached over and squeezed her hand "we can do this, he can't be that harsh, it's only our first day. This only caused her to groan but she linked her arm with mine and sent me a small smile. "Yeah, sure," she said weakly, without any real conviction but I knew she was trying to comfort herself so I didn't say anything. Instead I walked up to the door and knocked loudly.

"Come in," I heard a voice call from within. I pushed the door open with mounting trepidation. I was greeted by all the Gryffindors and Slytherins staring at me and a fat, jolly looking man sitting at a desk at the front of the classroom. "Ah, let me guess, you got lost, eh?" he asked cheerfully. We both nodded mutely, blushing and looking sheepish. I could see all the Gryffindors out of the corner of my eye trying to mask their sniggers. "It happens, no harm done, please take a seat," he said, still annoyingly cheerfully, gesturing to two seats at the back of the classroom.

We both plonked down into our seats. We were brewing a cure for boils and the rest of the class had already started. We quickly grabbed the ingredients and got to work. I was disgusted by some of the ingredients, flobberworm mucus! When we had finished our potion it had pink fumes rising off it, they may have been slightly purpler then they were supposed to be but at least the potion was successful. I looked up to see Al and Rose's potion letting off perfect pink hues. Damn them!

The rest of the day flew by in a blur. We ate lunch and dinner in the great hall and I had spent my study period holed up in the library writing my essay for Transfiguration for McGonagall. She was just cruel for giving us homework on our fist day. After that I had trudged to History of Magic with Professor Binns and discovered that it was actually possible to reach a new level of boredom. After I headed back towards the common room, changed and promptly fell asleep on my bed, exhausted from the day.


End file.
